Search for remains on Rottnest concludes

Date: January 08 2013

Police have concluded the search for human remains on Western Australia's Rottnest Island, where a human head wrapped in a plastic bag was found.

Police and SES volunteers finished their search of the beach and rocks at Porpoise Bay, on the southeast of the island on Tuesday afternoon, as detectives continued to investigate the identity of the man whose head was discovered by a holidaying family.

An 11-year-old girl who was beachcombing with her family is believed to have made the horrific discovery on Sunday, when she opened the plastic bag and saw a human ear.

Police were immediately alerted, and later confirmed the severed head belonged to a Caucasian male, aged between 30 and 50.

The man's front teeth were missing, with police saying they appear to have been removed some time before his death.

The discovery is being treated as a murder, but police would not confirm any details of any other wounds evident on the head, or evidence of decomposition.

Divers had been drafted in to search the waters adjacent to the beach on Tuesday morning, as SES personnel and police scoured the sand.

The area cordoned off by police forensic specialists on Monday has been reopened to the public.

A WA police spokeswoman said there had been no major developments.

"The search in Rottnest has concluded with the majority of SES personnel returning to Perth via ferry this afternoon," she said.

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